"RISC OS is said to be used in set top boxes scattered across the world, and a mobile phone developer reportedly bought up a load of RISC OS 5 kit. But some applications of ROS are much closer to home. Martin Hansen reports on the growing use of RISC OS in the timber frame housing industry."

One of the things I keep running into still today as a computer tech is Xenix. I don't know what the software package is, but it seems to be used by dentists all over Ontario. Every single dentist office I have been sent to (and my calling area runs from Toronto to Belleville) uses it. Someone out there is selling a lot of Xenix software under the radar.

I do agree, there are some programs/operating systems that are around simply because people have invested in either learning or putting their data in it, and because it works. I seem to recall a picture of a bus terminal(i think) running on a c64.

Right now there are more legacy systems out there than I think most people know about. At my old bank they bought all these brand new dells running windows, but what were they running? a custom dos app which communicated to some legacy machine(why they needed to clients I'm not sure) The point is however, that there is a glut of old machines where people can't/won't migrate, or because they like the current system and nothing out there does what they want.

I think its good to see someone running RISC OS however, I have always thought that utility of RISC OS is limited since its not x86. Personally, I wish the 6502 had evolved into our current systems(someone created a 32 bit machine a few years ago) however, we have to live with the x86 and that means to get much traction it means the OS should be able to run on them.

One example of this would be Apple migrating to x86. In one move they went from the PPC(which I personally feel is a superior design, in theory at least) to the x86 and instantly the machines gained a lot of utility. Now people who might have a few windows apps they need for work can run them without emulating the processor and thus might buy a mac because they don't have to maintain two different machines for work and personal use.

"I do agree, there are some programs/operating systems that are around simply because people have invested in either learning or putting their data in it, and because it works."

Usually, it's the last one. Organisations like banks or finance administrations cannot jump on every new MICROS~1 train because they need reliable solutions that run 24:7 year by year.

"Right now there are more legacy systems out there than I think most people know about. At my old bank they bought all these brand new dells running windows, but what were they running? a custom dos app which communicated to some legacy machine(why they needed to clients I'm not sure)"

At my local bank (Sparda-Bank), they use modern PCs that run only one application: A 3270 terminal emulator. It communicates with the IBM mainframe (I think it's an AS/400 iSeries) in the basement. Of course, power consumption and maintenance operations would be less complicated if they used real 3270 terminals. :-)

"The point is however, that there is a glut of old machines where people can't/won't migrate, or because they like the current system and nothing out there does what they want."

This is correct for medical diagnostics, too, where SGI and Sun workstations (Sun Sparc and Ultra, SGI Indy and Octane) process image data provided by a MRT or PET monster. I've even seen a system running with NeXT machines used for testing and evaluation. This hardware and software is such expensive that you simply cannot exchange the system twice a year.

"I think its good to see someone running RISC OS however, I have always thought that utility of RISC OS is limited since its not x86."

This may be correct, but personally I like the using concepts of RISC OS, the way the GUI looks like and how you do communicate with it. So it's great to see that RISC OS is still alive - and it's being used in fact.

This may be correct, but personally I like the using concepts of RISC OS, the way the GUI looks like and how you do communicate with it. So it's great to see that RISC OS is still alive - and it's being used in fact.

I completely agree, before I got this mac, I used the ROX desktop. As I read the docs it was the first time I had every heard of RISC OS. Now, since it is the only experience I have has with anything that uses RISC OS concepts(that I know of at least) I don't know how true it is to what it is based on, but I know I like it. I speculate that I would have liked RISC OS as well. Unfortunately, It appears to have suffered the fate of many other only worse, since the hardware is fairly exotic(at least in the world of the desktop)

> Unfortunately, It appears to have suffered the fate
> of many other only worse, since the hardware is
> fairly exotic

Ah, this statement shows you have missed the point. Now, yes, exotic hardware. Just like a Classic all-in-one Mac is exotic these days. Back in the late '80's and early '90's - RISC OS machines were the standard in UK education, at least across most of the country. PC's were still MSDOS and Windows 2.0. Even when Win 3.0/3.1 was first oput, RISC OS seemed better.

But hardware - absolutely bog standard in 1990. It might seem exotic to an outsider, but RISC OS and Acorn hardware was all we used to have.

The company that is shipping the software probably has some type of license to make copies? I don't really know where they get it from, I don't fix software problems on such machines - only hardware ones. With most of those being replacement of monitors that have failed or have burn-thru on the screens.

As for SCO, I have only worked/seen this software in Ontario, Canada. Plus our laws are a little different here - they better be prepare to file in French too - Yes, I have seen some of the systems in French and if the lawyers demand French, you need to supply it in French.

Any news is big news in the RISC OS scene. I don't say that in a cruel way, I'm RISC OS fan myself. It will make the news if new Amiga hardware is produced, but obviously would not make the news if yet another company starts making Windows PCs. On the hobbyist/fringe platforms, we often have little to get excited about, so just little things are nice.